Macho Women Exist, And These 5 Attitudes Define Them
Machismo is a complex phenomenon that, over the centuries, has found different ways of expressing itself. This means that in different cultures it is reflected through different attitudes and actions. However, there is another aspect that adds complexity to the matter: machismo is not only expressed in men.
And the fruit of the age-old inequality and discrimination that women have suffered has also been reflected in the type of values, ideas and attitudes that many of them, like the rest of society, have adopted.
Macho women are a reality, although their ideas about gender roles put them in the spotlight. This article is dedicated to exploring some of the basic actions and ideas through which this sexism manifests itself.
It must be taken into account that machismo, being the product of a collective and not an individual phenomenon, cannot be analyzed in the same way as it is done, for example, with the experience of pain. Most people avoid painful situations, but machismo does not have to have immediate negative consequences for the women who reproduce it.
Thus, being a woman is totally compatible with being sexist, at least in practice, although in the long run it harms her. But That does not mean, obviously, that they should be criminalized ; Ultimately, their actions harm them by fueling the rigidity of gender roles in which the female gender has the worst of it.
Raising awareness and improving the material subsistence situations of these people should be the objective, but for this it is necessary knowing how to detect internalized misogyny which occurs in people of both sexes.
Sexist attitudes that appear in some women
These are some behavior patterns that occur relatively commonly in sexist women. All of them also occur, with some variations, in sexist men, but there are some nuances that are worth taking into account in the first case, since in this case the internalized misogyny is usually more subtle.
1. Criticize others by judging them for their sexual life
Women with internalized misogyny can judge others very harshly for no reason, simply because in their opinion they do not adapt well to their gender roles. AND one of the most ingrained gender roles It is that of the person oriented towards the private and family sphere, in which all sexual and reproductive potential must be exclusive to a single man.
Even though we have now gone through the decade of supposed sexual liberation, the idea that women must preserve their virginity until marriage continues to leave an imprint on the morals of many people.
2. They negatively judge women who get promotions
As we have seen, the traditional role of women has been confined to the domestic sphere Therefore, in the case of the female gender, the possibility of building a career is seen as a phase prior to marriage and, therefore, something in which it does not make sense to invest a lot of effort and time.
That is why women who are promoted and progress in their careers are viewed with suspicion by those who have internalized misogyny, among whom are sexist women.
3. They assume that motherhood is destiny
According to traditional standards, reproduction is a woman’s reason for existence. Furthermore, it is not just any type of reproduction, but rather that which goes hand in hand with the nuclear family model: husband, wife and children. It is common for all the mental complexity of the female gender to be reduced to tasks related to childcare. emphasizing the role of genes or “the feminine essence” above learning or the freedom to choose other ways of life.
Thus, these people use their position as women to speak with authority to indicate what is feminine and what is not, creating a kind of competition to find a husband and have children before passing a certain age threshold, and allowing themselves the luxury of criticizing those who do not follow those rules of the game.
4. They make youth pay dearly for leaving
Since from a sexist perspective aesthetics speak a lot about the value of women (as reproductive elements that they are supposed to be), those women who pass a certain age are ridiculed and undervalued for it. Is a type of discrimination that targets what one is, not what one does just like racism.
5. They closely monitor compliance with beauty standards
For the same reason that we have seen in the previous section, the sexist woman looks closely at the possible aesthetic imperfections that occur in others, and they point them out publicly. The result is an increase in social pressure that guides the female gender towards an obsession with beauty in its smallest details.
